The One Way Road
by KingRagnarok68
Summary: The Accelerator was a pretty good compensation for being ROBed. Ah jeez, who am I kidding, on a list of powers I would like to have this was wayyy up there, So really I won the lottery. Thanos who? Ok, that may be an exaggeration. Still, The world, no the universe needs my help, no hesitation, no looking back, down the one-way road. MCU SI/OC w/ Vector Control power, no X-over.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: A One Way Road to Power and Responsibility.

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking a foreign language(s)

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking English

_'__Hello fellow humans'_ \- Inner thoughts/thinking English

When I first returned to consciousness I was met with such blinding pain that I was out like a light before I could register more than the feeling of knives in my head.

My second attempt went a little better, and through the haze of what I assumed were drugs I was able to make out the world-weary concerned face of Mark Ruffalo. Wait, what...?

…

…

I jolt awake and, yes there he was. Mark Ruffalo in all his scruffy glory standing over me with a mangled IV tube, looking for all the world like I was a wild animal. A quick glance around the room revealed I was in what looked to be a little hut, on a cot about a foot off the ground, covered in scratchy blankets.

I turn back to Ruffalo, more than a little concerned over the fact that this was definitely not my AP Physics classroom. I had barely taken a breath before I was smacked in the face by a wave of numbers and lines. They seemed to crawl out nowhere and zoom about the place like demented birds, swirling with no rhyme or reason... Trying to follow them was impossible. Wait, no, that wasn't right, there was a pattern,

'_Yes right there, that line to there and then this one to both there and there… oh god, that makes so much sen-!'_

I'll be honest, this is more than a little irritating at this point. Staying awake should not BE THIS HARD! Well, apparently sheer rage can propel you awake, you learn something new everyday I guess. Now I just need to find my phone and call my mother, who I can't remember, why can't I remember my mother, WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER MY NAME, WHATISHAPPENING-.

"You gave us quite the scare you know, some of the villagers were concerned you would not make it."

Oh, right. Mark fucking Ruffalo. And he was speaking Hindi, because why the hell not. Reason had abandoned the world so what was one more crazy thing.

"Your accent is terrible, horrifying really. But I suppose it is unfair to expect better. I've noticed Americans struggle with languages."

"That's mildly insulting. After I saved your life too. Why do you speak English?"

"What the hell d'ya mean why do I speak English, Why are you butchering Hindi?"

Mark Ruffalo, 'nope that's still weird as all hell', took a breath to center himself, "Alright, let's start over. I'm Dr. Bruce Banner and I've been treating your wounds for just a little under three days now and I have a few questions for you-"

"Banner?, Three da-? What, hold on, no, just stop, start over, please." He looked a bit put out at the interruption but nonetheless pulled over a stool to sit by the cot. Then he started to talk.

* * *

I think it was about five minutes in that I realized that Mar- _Dr. Banner_ because yes this is happening, was really dead serious, and boy was that a fun epiphany. I'd been ROBbed, picked out of my life's and dropped without care into a foreign universe. More specifically the little village of Ishwaripur, about an hour and a half from Kolkata, circa November 2011. Well, at least it nice to have some idea of where and when I was. Fuck's sake I was screwed. Oh, he was still talking, and now he's leaving to give me a minute.

Ok, ok, ok, ok, don't freak out, this is good. Well, it's not good, it just could be a lot worse, a lot worse. I would be royally fucked if this was Worm, now instead I'm only kinda fucked. SHIELDRA, multiple alien invasions and if I somehow managed to scrape by all the nonsense the next decade would throw at me there was still a fifty-fifty chance I would be proofed into dust by a ridiculously overpowered alien warlord.

Oh, joy, I'm hyperventilating, that's not good, alright CALM THE FUCK DOWN, I am not fainting, not again.

I lost track of time at this point, it was either several minutes or several hours later that Banner sat back down on the stool with a serious look on his face and I belatedly realized that he had had a few questions before I interrupted him.

"So…"

'_Wow, this is awkward' _

"You have powers…" he forged on. I just stared in silence and my confusion must have been apparent on some level. "Well, you're certainly not normal, because you did this when I tried to put an IV in your arm" he clarified, pulling out the mangled needle.

"I did what?"

"You're not lying, you really don't know." he noted after a moment of searching my eyes for signs of dishonesty and then continued, "I don't know exactly how to explain this, but when I tried to insert a needle for an IV line it almost shattered in my hands."

Wait a minute, this is oddly familiar, no… It couldn't be that easy could it, but it was and for that, I will always be grateful.

I turned away from Banner and looked down to my hand, and with a thought brought the numbers and lines back into focus from where they had been resting in semi-transparency, and I understood.

* * *

Alright, let me take stock. So I have additional knowledge in my head, the number and lines zipping about my field of view representing how my brain interprets the vectors of motion of objects around me. '_Oh look it's the force of gravity on me, how easy would it be to- Oh I just have to want it. Ah, that must be my passive reflection field'_. I take a shaky breath and just barely resist the urge to squee in delight, '_You're a man dammit, pull it together'_. The Accelerator was a pretty good compensation for being ROBed and having my personal memories stolen.

Ah jeez who am I kidding, on a scale of powers I would like to have this was wayyy up there, beaten only perhaps by the more broken Nasuverse ones, The Kaleidoscope was no joke, but then, it came with certain dealbreaker downsides, like of being desensitized to human life. So really I won the fucking lottery. Thanos who? Ok, that may be an exaggeration, I don't know my limits yet and being untouchable doesn't mean that I can just get around not technically existing here. Wait does this mean I gonna go full albino. I turn back to Banner who has been more than patient watching my eyes dart wildly around the room.

"I know what happened to the needle and I will tell you everything, but first do you have a mirror?"

* * *

Turns out I don't have to worry about going albino, I'm already there. That was the fact that made this all viscerally real. My physiognomy was essentially the same but my normally brown skin and black hair were replaced with ghost white and silver respectively, not to mention the vampire-esque eyes.

I look back to Banner from the pocket mirror he had found somewhere and all of a sudden it's my turn to talk. I tell him a lot, more than I was intending to really but who can blame me, he's got those puppy dog eyes. What my power was, what I understood about it, how I was invulnerable to kinetic damage (hint hint Banner, I'm Hulk proof), how I didn't remember anything about myself, not even my name, and I ended it with a desperate plea to stay with him.

Objections of him being constantly on the move were rebuffed with reasonable ripostes of how I have no ID in this world and therefore do not exist, and how if anyone else found out about this I wouldn't get a moment's peace. The argument resonated with him, as I intended it too, and we finally shook on a deal, I would act as his muscle while he did his doctors without borders schtick and in return, he would let me follow him around and feed me.

He leaves to let me stretch my legs and ask our generous hosts about some food, '_I should really thank them'_. I stand on shaky legs and look down at my clenched fist, yes I am shamelessly manipulating him, but this is the big leagues, it's time to put on my big boy pants and grow the fuck up. The world, no the universe needs my help and dammit if I'm not going to give it, no hesitation, no looking back, down the one-way road.

I pull the numbers back to the forefront of my mind and flip one of the lines. I slowly float up to several inches off the ground.

I don't even try to stop the squee this time.

* * *

Dear fellow fanfic enthusiasts,

Welcome to my first foray into writing fics, borne of my frustration at a shortage of male marvel SIs and/or vector control power set characters, so I decided to do it myself. I love the MCU and Endgame was life-changing for me, no spoilers but this will definitely not be compliant with it and will, in fact, diverge pretty early in Phase 1.

To clarify I'm putting this only under the Avengers section because there really isn't anything from the Toaru-verse apart from accelerator's powers. Additionally to reiterate this is my first fic and in fact, the first thing I've written in several years. Please let me know how you feel about this, I'm always open to suggestions on my style or where the plot is going (I'm still a little unclear myself).

If I've done so badly that flames are the only response be brutally honest I can take it (please be nice though), or if somehow this is actually a decent idea and execution please review telling me so, it would make my day.

P.S. the title of this fic is in reference to another name for the vector control ability, The One Way Road

Thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A One Way Road to Heart-to-Hearts.

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking a foreign language(s)

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking English

'_Hello fellow humans'_ \- Inner thoughts/thinking English

Minakhan, the outskirts of Kolkata,

India,

23 December 2011.

In the few weeks or so we'd been traveling together Dr. Banner and I had gotten closer, but there was still a gap between us that I attributed to our age difference. Him being somewhere in the early forties and myself having just turned 20.

The major breakthrough came when I walked into our room to find him curled up in a fetal position sometime in the afternoon. He'd gotten low enough that the next thing I knew was that he was sobbing into hands and spilling his life story.

The movies don't really do his tale justice, he had to abandon the love of his life and a career he'd spent years building to disappear into the wilderness in fear of Uncle Sam, '_Fuck Thaddeus Ross, fuck any super soldier formula attempt really, they never seemed to end well, for anyone involved'_. The fact that I hadn't recoiled in horror at his little green problem must have unsettled him until I reminded the good doctor that I was probably the only person in the world the Hulk couldn't hurt. Doesn't matter how hard the Hulk could hit since I would just redirect the vector and remain untouched.

After our heart to heart, I told Banner to call me Accelerator, tired of him referring to me as 'Hey' since there was nothing better. I didn't remember my own name and honestly, it was a badass callsign. I think he picked up on my childish excitement because he started at me bemusedly for a few moments before wiping the tears from his face and accepting.

"C'mon Doctor, let's try to get your mind off this nonsense. How's about we go out for a bit and mess around with my abilities?" I asked pulling him to his feet and dusting off his ratty shirt. Nothing quite like power testing to put a smile on the face of a scientist.

"Yeah, Yeah Accelerator, thanks." I smiled at the name, I'm gonna be a badass, but for now, time to focus on the Doctor.

* * *

"So how exactly do you do it? You said before that your… power is, vector control?- Am I getting that right?" He wondered aloud, propping himself on a rock at the edge of a clearing we'd found about 10 minutes from the village.

"Yep that's right, it's what I'm calling it anyways" I confirmed, walking to the center of the clearing and doing a little spin to check that we hadn't picked up any eavesdroppers, '_can't have the villagers throwing us out on account of being demons, especially since that mother of two still needed treatment from Dr. Banner.'_

"Yes… but what does that _mean_?"

"Really it's a ridiculous ability," I answered, whirling back around to face him after confirming our isolation, "there are many phenomena in nature that be described as having a vector, for instance, the force of gravity acting on us, or the wind blowing through the trees. Any time one of these comes into contact with me I can take control of it. I could delete it, enlarge it, redirect it… the possibilities are endless. It's not even that hard, there doesn't seem to be a limit to what I could do."

Oh look, I've rendered the Doctor speechless, I don't think I've ever done that to anyone. I see why people say it makes one look like a gasping fish. He looks almost constipated.

"That's…"

"Broken?", I asked, "Completely unfair? Wayyy too much power for someone who has only just graduated high school?". He could only nod and exhale shakily. "Yeah it's no joke, I seem to have extra knowledge in my head, I can almost see the vectors zipping around, little translucent number notating them, and all I have to do to change something is want it. To be honest Bruce this is kinda freaking me out, and I don't yet know if it's a good freakout or a bad one-"

"Could you show me?" he interrupted the beginnings of my meltdown, a fact I was immensely thankful for because no, I don't want to embarrass myself in front of one of the smartest men on the planet.

"Yeah… Yeah… Ok, let me just- here. See this rock. When I toss it into the air there are several forces acting on it." I toss the rock about a foot in the air and catch it before continuing, "There's the force I've applied to the rock pushing upward, the force of gravity pulling the rock downward and the air resistance that is in the opposite direction of its velocity.

Banner nods, and damn if it isn't nice having a super-smart science dude who just gets it. "So every one of those forces can be described as a vector, the same is true for the rock's velocity and acceleration. And since they're vectors, I can mess with them."

I gesture for him to take a step back and he scrambles to do so, "Alright, so if I toss this up again and tweak its acceleration from the tiny number it would be normally to something crazy like… a thousand meters per second squared, it should shoot up like a bullet with me just having lightly tossed it."

I toss the rock up.

* * *

Bruce and I spend about half a minute waiting in awkward silence with both our heads craned upwards. He looks back at me with piercing eyes after it falls back between us, and for the first time, I see Bruce Banner, M.D., Ph.D.

"You are not doing that again, are we clear? Under no circumstances are you to _shoot_ things into the atmosphere! That could have hurt someone!"

He's pointing at me with a finger extended like I am an unruly pet and my indignation only dies when I see the concern under the anger.

"So you see why I asked to stay with you. If people found out what I could do I wouldn't have a moments peace, I mean even though my passive reflection field means no one can touch me I still don't wanna fight the entire world, the best thing would be to follow your example and hide out until I can figure something else out. Please let me stay with you."

Banner seemed to digest my earnest plea before latching onto something I said, "What do you mean passive reflection field?"

"I noticed it after I woke up, there's a thin layer about a quarter of an inch of my skin and it reflects."

"It reflects? Reflects what?"

"I seem to subconsciously decide whether things are a threat or not and then either allow them through to me or-

"Reflect them." he finished.

"Exactly," I say while scuffing my foot nervously, "so if someone tried to shoot me then I would just bounce the bullets straight back and they would do something stupid like fly back into the barrels of the guns they came from." Why is the constipated look is back?

"You think about people shooting at you?"

"Well yeah, I kinda have to, I told you there's no limit to what I could do. I'm a walking nuke, and I will always have to worry about this

Desperate to break the somber mood that brilliant statement has left I search around wildly for something less defeatist to talk about. "But on the plus side, I'll never sunburn."

I think I'm giving him whiplash with how fast I keep changing the subject because it's a good few seconds till he can reply with a weak question to elaborate. He seemed amused by the fact that my passive reflection field registered solar ration as a threat and so bounced it off.

"Well that must be why you have albinism," he responds, "Since your skin cells don't have to protect you from UV radiation and the like they have no reason to produce the pigments that would give you a skin tone."

He sighs tiredly before standing up and dusting off his worn blue jeans, running his hands through his lightly graying hair. I feel a twinge of guilt for burdening him with another Hulk-sized secret but push it away violently to focus on his words.

"-Yeah kid, you can stick with me, in fact, it's probably for the best… Now let's get back to the Mukherjee's, there are still patients to heal."

He starts to amble back to the main road and after only a moment's hesitation follow after him quickly. I smile.

There may only be a few months of peace before shit hits the fan sometime in May next year, but I'm going to savor this time. Bruce has a mind few can match and I'm going to take full advantage of that. Practicing with him should be just what I need to get up to scuff before I have to beat down some Chitauri. But more on that later, for now, it's time to play nurse.

* * *

Hey everyone,

The support for this story has been phenomenal and I'm walking on air at this point. I just can't believe that so many people like it.

Anyways as a thank you here's a new chapter for you guys. It goes further into the main character, including his powers and hints of his personality (something some of you guys have questions about). Plus we get to see some more of Bruce and that's always a good thing.

I hope you guys find this chapter up to the standard I've somehow set, please read and review with any comments, concerns, questions or suggestions.

Have a nice day!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A One Way Road to the Best Day Ever

Author's Note: Hey everyone and welcome to the third installment of A One Way Road, which I've now renamed The One Way Road cuz I think it flows better. I've decided to move the author's note to the start of the story to make things a little more organized. To those who have reviewed since yesterday, thank you for taking the time out your days to make this nascent author's day. In this chapter, we start to see some hints of a plot, and if some of the lines look familiar to you it's because they've been lifted from the _Avengers 2012_ script. Obviously, I own none of these things, they belong to big brother (Disney's Marvel Studios) and we _love big brother, I am beyond suspicion, please don't silence me_. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and don't forget to read and review.

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking a foreign language(s)

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking English

'_Hello fellow humans'_ \- Inner thoughts/thinking English

Forest outside of Kolkata,

India,

2 May 2012.

The past four months had been the best of my life, of either of my lives really. It's not that they were filled with creature comforts, in fact, it was quite the opposite. Living on the move was a tough but interesting experience. Bruce and I would move to a new village or town, find a family in need of treatment, that the good doctor would then provide. Then we'd use that home as a base, from which to try and help as many people as possible nearby.

Every morning after breakfast Bruce would leave the house to go and do his doctor thing, and I would instead stick around to help our hosts around the house and earn my own room and board. Cooking, cleaning, walking to the pump to get water, I did it all. And in true superhero fashion abused the hell out of my own abilities to make it easier. it took seconds to dust the entire house when all I had to do was blow a little wind and swirl around the edges of the room to gather the trash, and what did the weight of multiple buckets of water matter when all I had to do was tweak their gravity vectors to be zero. I was a superhero maid extraordinaire.

'_God this is my life now isn't it, using superpowers to do household chores… I FUCKING LOVE IT.'_

Speaking of Bruce and superpowers, our friendship is stronger than ever, the events of four months ago bringing us closer to each other. Every week or so we would walk out of the town and find another little clearing to further practice my powers, he seemed to come alive these times, excited to once again be doing actual science. His intellect was staggering and really the only way I was able to keep up was the extra knowledge that had been injected into my head.

My fundamental understanding of the forces of nature was related tangentially enough to Bruce's pioneering work in gamma radiation that we could talk about it a little. My greatest inspiration for new attacks and such, apart from the original Accelerator's move-set, were the ideas the good Doctor and I brainstormed together. '_I wonder if Tony would be jealous that I got to be Bruce's science-bro before he did… wait a god damned minute… WE COULD BE SCIENCE-BROS TOGETHER!'_ I take a few deep breaths and slap my cheeks lightly to prevent myself from going full fanboy again and am suddenly reminded of what it is I'm doing at the moment.

Having sent Bruce back to the village ahead of me after we'd finished a series of experiments on tactile telekinesis super strength, I'd moved on to screwing around with my passive reflection field. Normally it allowed harmless things like light, sounds, and air through while keeping out decidedly less harmless things like bacteria, extreme temperatures, and foreign projectiles. But, hypothetically all I would need to do would be to- aha! Finally did it!

With a minor application of will, I'm invisible. Instead of filtering light through my field, I refract it to curve right around me. Leaving tiny holes in front of my eyes so I can still see proves to be prudent as the world blacks out around me.

A quick glance at my hands proves they're invisible, as is the rest of my body. Though I can still make out the edges of my being by the vectors of my passive field. '_God this power is broken, not only can I pick up a car over my head without breaking a sweat by neutralizing its weight, I can turn invisible. Definitely worth getting ROBed. Though I can't say I'm happy to have lost my build, I'd finally gotten in some modicum of shape too' _I mentally whine, looking down at my scrawny, almost androgynous pale body. '_Whatever brought me here seems dead set on making me Accelerator… At least I wasn't made a girl, I don't know if I could handle that, I like having a penis too much.'_

I comforted myself with the fact that it was good I was so scrawny, since pushing my field away from my skin any farther put a noticeable strain on my mind, and dusted my hands before setting out back to our gracious host's home. There was always more work to be done.

* * *

Slums at the edge of Kolkata,

India,

2 May 2012.

A little girl runs through the crowd, trying to force a path through the Kolkata hustle and bustle. She runs into a shack and up to a flight of stairs and finally spots him, Bruce Banner, the local doctor. An attending woman stops her from coming farther up the stairs, warning her, "What are doing here?! Get out! You shouldn't be here! There is a sickness here."

"I have to see the doctor! It's my father!" The girl pleaded, pushing out a fistful of grubby notes.

"Calm down. What's wrong?", Bruce comforts her, following her line of sight to look behind him, seeing how the girl is staring at a sick child is being cared for by an attendant. "Is he like them?" Bruce questions.

"Please…"

I managed to arrive just as Bruce and the little girl were running out of the shack, having a considerably easier time pushing through the crowd as people distanced themselves from the strange, tall, pale, white man.

"Whoa Whoa Whoa, hold your horses, Bruce." I interjected, putting an arm out to block his way, "What the hell is going on." He looked down to the girl whose hand he was clutching.

"This little one says her father is sick, I wrapped up with the Raj's so I figured I might as well check this out."

"Sounds good," I nodded, "mind if I tag along?" He nodded and we were off. Something about this whole thing was giving me serious deja vu. '_Ah well, what's the worst that could happen...'_

* * *

'_Well fuck, this is what I get isn't it, what's the worst that could happen' I said. Practically begged the universe to screw with me, and screw with me it did…'_

Bruce and I, having been ditched by the girl, turn around to see Natasha Romanoff appear from behind a few curtains quietly.

"You know, for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle…" The Black Widow notes. Bruce and Romanoff do their dance for another minute or so, lightly hiding warnings and threats in their words before Romanoff turns back to me.

"We never lost you, doctor. We've kept our distance, we noticed when you picked up your friend here, we noticed that he doesn't seem to be on any of our databases, and we've checked them all. We've even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent."

I'm not that surprised SHIELD knows about me, in fact, I'd be surprised if they didn't, Fury probably blew a gasket when he found out someone he couldn't identify or control had gotten close to Bruce.

"Why?", Banner questioned, rightly concerned at the fact that a shadow organization was so heavily involved in his life without his knowledge.

"Nick Fury seems to trust you. But now I need you to come in."

"What if I said no?"

"I'll... persuade you." Romanoff counters, looking very much like she thinks she would be able to do anything of the sort, '_Oh you sweet, summer, child'_

"And what if the... other guy says no?"

"You've been more than a year without an incident," Romanoff replies, taking off her shawl and making me realize all of a sudden that this is the BLACK WIDOW, Russian superspy, a woman who has killed god knows how many people. "I don't think you wanna break that streak."

She sets a clunky phone down on the table, its screen showing a glowing blue cube and several energy readouts and glances back at me and Bruce, "Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe. This…" she gestures to the phone, "is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet. It was previously in SHIELD's possession but it's been taken. We need your help to find it. It emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no one that knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be.

I interject, becoming an active part of the conversation for the first time, "So Fury isn't after the Hulk?"

"Not that he's told me." Man can she pin you with a look, those eyes are a weapon unto themselves, "and while we're at it, if you could answer a few simple questions for us we'd be grateful."

Bruce scoffs, dropping the phone back onto the table, "Fury just wants me- wants us... in a cage."

"No one's gonna put you in a...

"**STOP LYING TO ME!"** Bruce thunders, slamming his hands down on the table, startling Romanoff into quick drawing a handgun, pointing it right at his head.

I put a hand on Bruce's shoulder and turn to Romanoff, "I'm sorry," I apologize, "Bruce likes to test people, he probably just wanted to see what you'd do. Being on the run isn't really good for his paranoia. Why don't we do this the easy way, where you put that gun down and I won't have to stop the other guy from making a mess, huh? How's that sound.

Romanoff reaches to her hear and tells the agents that were approaching to stand down. She lowers the gun slowly, still wary of sudden movements. "What do you mean stop the other guy?"

Oops, did I say that, ummm…. Well, it's true I could survive an 'incident' as Romanoff so cleanly put it, not that I'm going to tell Big Brother that. I could trust Fury to be logical but SHIELDRA was still an issue. Ok focus up, Loki first then HYDRA.

"He means stop me, well stop the other guy." Banner answers for me. I throw him a betrayed look asking him with my eyes, '_How could you sell me out like that Science-bro, I trusted you.'_

"Oh don't give me that look Accelerator, we're obviously going, and they'll obviously find out at some point, why delay the inevitable." Oh, we're going, that was easy.

"I thought I'd have to persuade you" Romanoff questions, mirroring my own thoughts.

"Yeah well, I don't need another catastrophe on my conscious. Let Accelerator and I get our bags and we'll go with you, needless to say, he's coming with me, he might actually be a better shot at finding the cube than I am."

Ronanoff nods her ascent and less than eight hours later Bruce and I are standing on the deck of the hellicarrier, watching her and Steve fucking Rogers walk towards us. Bruce stumbles about trying to get out of the way of the workers but I grab his arm and whirl him about to face them.'_Oh jeez, this is happening, I'm about to meet Captian America, I'm about to meet TONY FUCKING STARK… This is the best day EVER.'_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: A One Way Road to Catching A God

Author's Note: Welcome to the fourth chapter of my story. The response has been out of this world by the way, at the time I'm writing this, almost 340 people have visited this story and I'm just blown away. Anyways, in this chapter (which is slightly shorter than the first two, sorry!), we have the intrepid Accelerator come into contact with a World War two veteran, a billionaire genius and a god or two. Enjoy, and don't forget to read and review, thanks!

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking a foreign language(s)

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking English

'_Hello fellow humans'_ \- Inner thoughts/thinking English

Captain America was everything I hoped he would be, six plus of blonde boy-scout that managed to not only keep a straight face when I introduced myself as Accelerator but ask me and Bruce to call him Steve. He did turn to Romanoff afterward with a question on his lips but she headed him off with a headshake and a shrug as if to say, '_What are you looking at me for? You think I know anything more than you do?'_. Well, no one is perfect, I don't blame you Steve, it _is_ a weird name, but I'm owning it.

We walked onto the bridge just as Fury gave the order for the retro-reflective panels to activate. Steve gave Fury a ten as the pirate spy walked closer before I had that eye pointed right at me. Jeez, that is scary, ok, pay attention he's talking to you.

"Mr… Accelerator.", Damm even his voice sounds like it could beat you up for your secrets.

"Yes, Director Fury."

"We have a few questions for you if you don't mind." Fury strode across the room and planted himself about five feet away before putting both hands behind his back in parade rest.

"Of course," I acquiesce, no need to piss off _The Spy_, "We can have that conversation later when time isn't of the essence but I suppose I could just start with the fact that Bruce found me sometime in November, I don't really remember who I am or where I come from, and I woke up an albino with superpower."

Wow, that is a crushing silence, even the workers at computers around us have noticeably slowed to listen in. It's Steve that takes the plunge for everyone. "What exactly do you mean by superpowers?"

"Well, it's a whole thing, I don't really wanna get into right now but I can do stuff that would blow your mind. For example, if the Hulk punched me in the face I wouldn't even be scratched." Now he looks green, bad Steve! that's Bruce's thing. Speaking of Bruce he shoots me a surprised look, to which I shrug and explain, "Why try to delay them finding out, it would happen inevitably right, alright back on track, What's the status on the Tesseract?"  
Fury's brow creases, the look in his eyes promising that this conversation _will be revisited_, "We're monitoring every channel we can find, but there's been no word yet."  
"That's... not going to get you too far. How many mass spectrometers do you have?" Bruce the scruff scientist asks and I tune him and Fury out, at this stage of things I couldn't do much to help. While Bruce and I had practiced me tracking gamma signatures by their vectors in case we were ever separated and I needed to find him, I couldn't find the tesseract without getting my hands on it and memorizing its signature.

I may have understood things like the movement of water vapor in the lower atmosphere environments, but my lack of base knowledge of anything to do with real science became a glaring problem when I had to interpret actual data that actual professional scientists had collected. I'll leave them to it, but in the meanwhile, there should be something I can do. Ah! Thank you, nameless SHIELD agent, for finding Loki in Germany with your creepy 'we're always watching' cameras.

"Cap, you're up," Fury calls, interrupting the highly amusing sight of Coulson making a fool of himself in front of his man crush, "time to suit up."

"I want to go to," I call out. Fury purses his lips and frowns but nods stiffly.

"We'll be watching you, no funny business."

"Of course Director," I nod, and turn to Maria Hill, "could I bother one of your agents for a suit, in white if possible, this t-shirt isn't really appropriate for that venue." After a confirming nod from Fury, she points for me to follow another woman out of the room. As I leave I catch a worried Bruce's eyes and smile, '_Don't worry science-bro, I got this.'_

* * *

On the jet ride over Steve asks me what I can do, and to be honest its a good question. I pull up the live feed of the museum and see Loki making his way down the steps, his finely cut suit shimmering into the distinctive horned helmet and Asgardian armor. Civilians scatter as Loki fires at a cab with his scepter, overturning it.

"The high-density crowd means I can't really let loose," I answer Steve as the two of us stand just behind Romanoff while she pilots the jet, "not without risking the safety of the other people in the square." Steve nods, looking resplendent in full Captain America gear, '_man that is a fine shield, damn it, don't get distracted by shiny things Accelerator, pull it together.'_

"The best way to do this would probably be to have you jump in and handle the fisticuffs part, just hold him still long enough for me to touch him, then I can immobilize him easily." Steve nods and turns back to look out the cockpit while I scoot back to my seat. I look down at the form-fitting white suit that SHIELD had found me and traced a thin black accent line along my forearm, '_Damn I look good, I'm going to kick ass and take names all while dressed like a badass, this is going to be awesome!'_

I've never been in a real fight before but I'm not particularly scared, at this point there's nothing that Loki can do to physically hurt me, and while I may be susceptible to the scepter' mind control shenanigans, I know better than to let it anywhere near my heart. I take a deep breath and not two minutes later Steve dives from the jet to intercept a bolt of scepter energy from hitting a particularly ballsy old man in the crowd. Mad props German grandpa dude, you've got a real pair on you.  
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, he and I had a disagreement," Steve said, shaking his arm out as he stepped toward the fallen god. '_Fucking 'A' line Cap'_.  
"The Soldier. A man out of time." he snarled back, boosting himself to his feet. His voice was dripping with barely restrained anger and smugness. Romanoff brought the jet around and I heard the targeting systems lock onto Loki.

"Loki; drop the weapon, and stand down." She ordered over the loudspeaker. It's after she dodges his shot that 'Shoot to Thrill' by AC/DC starts playing over the speakers.

"Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?" asks Tony Fucking Stark asks over our hijacked speakers. I grin, but recompose myself, no time for fanboying, I got a job to do. After Stark blasts Loki the Asgardian surges back up with his scepter aiming to stab at the arc reactor in Iron Man's chest. I step past Stark before he can make good on his promise to unload enough heavy weaponry to level a small town and bounce the scepter off of my hand, its forward momentum flipped by my passive shield. I can hear Loki's wrist creak from having the weapon jerked around in his grip but crush any sympathy, this man has killed god knows how many people in less than two days, there's no room for hesitation.

I tap off the ground with my big toe and push my velocity to zip across the few remaining feet between us before laying a palm on his chest. I cancel all outward movement vectors, allowing him to still breath and circulate blood, but preventing him from doing much else. I twist around to face Stark and Steve who are standing awkwardly next to each other before putting my other hand in a thumbs up position.

"Did someone order a Norse god…" '_Fucking A line me, you did good.'_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: A One Way Road to Shakespeare in the Park

Author's Note: Hi everyone, welcome to the fifth chapter of A One Way Road, I have received more feedback from some you, and have taken it into account. Also, I've started collaborating with an IRL friend of mine who is a much better writer than I am, she's helping me plan out what my long term story is going to look like and I gotta say it looks promising. So this chapter is dedicated to her.

In this I try to build on the concept the MC's powers aren't just willpower, they're actually just math that he does in his head, the results of which he can enforce on the world. This is becoming apparent only now because we've never had a situation where he has had to use his abilities as much as this one.

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking a foreign language(s)

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking English

'_Hello fellow humans'_ \- Inner thoughts/thinking English

* * *

"So what's your deal, Evil Albino?" asked Stark once we were on the jet and he'd removed his helmet, "You some kind of a SHIELD lackey?"

"Can't say that I am Mr. Stark... I work with Bruce Banner and came in with him when Romanoff said they needed his help to find the cube" I reply, my hand still on Loki's shoulder to restrict his movement.  
"I don't like this..." Steve interrupted, speaking lowly towards Stark.  
"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"  
"It's never that easy." He answered. Gold star for you buddy, Loki did have a larger plan, and with any luck, my intervention would prevent any of it from coming to fruition.

Then, the sky started rumbling. I tensed along with Loki and focused my attention on the roof at the jet rather than Steve's taunts towards the chained god. When Stark moved forward and opened up the loading ramp I abandoned my position, trusting the handcuffs to keep Loki in place for now.

A caped man dropped into view from above, standing up straight and dwarfing all of us, his blood red cloak and gleaming armor left no doubt as to his inhuman nature. Thor made to step towards Loki and Tony immediately powered up his palm repulsors, but the god of thunder's reflexes served him well. He slammed his hammer into Stark's chest plate, sending him careening backward into Steve. The two of them bowled over and Romanoff looked over her shoulder from the controls in front of her. Her beautiful features twisting in surprise and concern. '_Alright that's enough of this nonsense.'_

I pulled a move from the _Thanos Handbook of Evil Moves™_ and brought my hand up before snapping my fingers.

The sound made when you snap your fingers is actually the sound of the air in your palm being compressed and forced out of your fist. The important part to note here is the air being displaced. I reached out mentally and _pushed_ the vectors, my injected knowledge meant that I could to the requisite calculations as easy as breathing. My interference forced the little puff of air to grow into a veritable explosion of wind which blasted Thor, hammer and all, straight out of the back of the jet.

After the jet itself recovers from the turbulence generated I look back at Steve and Stark, who have by now gotten back up to their feet. Stark stares at me in surprise while he grasps for his helmet behind him blindly.

"That's my deal Stark," I say with a smirk. I walk down to the edge of the ramp before continuing, "I'm going to go after him, whoever this guy is he wants Loki, and if we lose him we lose the cube."

"Accelerator- we need a plan of attack here.".

"Don't worry captain, I'll handle this guy, you two sit back and take a minute, I understand that people your age have less stamina." I have just enough time to catch Steve's bewildered face and Stark's indignant one before I step off the ramp and fall like a stone through the stormy sky.

* * *

Note to self, jumping out of a plane makes you spin like a deranged fan. I push against my angular momentum with a mental nudge and slow until I'm falling straight down feet first. My hair, which I haven't really dealt with since my arrival in this world whips around and into my eyes irritatingly and I make a second note to do something about it later, or at the very least get some goggles or something.

The ground is closing in fast when I finally spot Thor's landing spot on a cliff overlooking the forest. A quick mental subtraction cancels my acceleration due to gravity entirely and I start to reduce my downward velocity slowly in accordance with a simple linear function. I touch down as light as a feather in front of the sizeable crater he's made on the cliff's loose gravel, deciding to save the obligatory superhero landing for a time when I have a bigger audience. I leave my hands hanging lightly by my sides while I wait for the Asgardian to get his feet beneath him once again. No need to kick him while he's down.

He's standing and he looks furious now, he starts to spin his hammer on its strap and leans towards me but a blur of red slams into him from the right. '_Ah, that's where Stark is…' _

I crouch slightly, plot the projectile curve in my mind, and leap off the cliff, aiming for the path of splintered trees that Stark and Thor have left through the tree. At the apex of my jump, exactly four hundred feet and seven inches off the ground I catch sight of a swathe of fabric falling to the earth, '_and that would be Steve... the parachute will delay him for a bit but he should get there in time.'_

"Shakespeare in the Park. Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?" Thor looked about as tired of today as one could get. He turns bodily away from Stark and before the latter can put his foot further in his mouth I interrupt.

"Excuse me, sir, my name is Accelerator. I am sorry for the less than warm welcome but you approached us quite aggressively." Thor just ignored me.

"I tire of this! You, little pale one, I have come for Loki. Do not test me further." I glared, '_Oi, who the fuck are you calling short blondie... Calm down Accelerator, diplomacy is essential right now.'_

"As I was _saying_, We need Loki in our custody for now but-" A flash of light and sparks burst towards Thor and would have hit him and escalated the fight if I hadn't stepped in the way. Stark's repulsor attacks seemed like they were designed specifically to be useless to me. It took only a simple tweak to their vectors to have the wave of force fly harmlessly towards a tree, which then shattered. Ok so maybe not completely harmless.  
"Enough! Both of you, calm the fuck down! If you wanna go a few rounds I'll be more than happy to beat the two of you down." I yelled, looking back and forth between the two of them.  
Thor just growled and started to swing his hammer around once more, "You don't know what you're dealing with little man." The Asgardian prince jumped into the air and drew his hammer back, I prepared myself to dodge out of the way with a burst of speed.

There was no way I was going to tank a magic hammer to the face, my reflection only worked along known laws of physics, and the middle of a forest seemed like a foolish place to test it for the first time. I was saved the trouble by Steve dropping down in Thor's path and raising his shield into Mjolnir's path.  
The shockwave blew through the clearing and leveled several dozen trees around the perimeter, it would have sent me flying as well if I hadn't lowered my center of mass and put up a palm to dissipate the wave around me. Steve straightened and took a few deep breaths.

"We done here?…"

I walk forward to stand by him and face Thor, giving him a nod to try and convey a sense of respect, "Yeah Cap, we're done here." Thor seemed to get the message because he lowered his hammer before walking forward to introduce himself.

"Well fought, the both of you, I did not know that Midgard has such fearsome warriors. I am Thor Odinson, and my father has sent me to bring Loki before him to answer for his crimes."

"It's good to meet Thor," Steve nodded, extending his hand for a shake, an action Thor returned after thinking about it for a second. "This is Accelerator," Steve continued, pointing at me with his chin while I nodded hello. "We'll be happy to turn Loki over, but we need him for a few things first."

Thor gave his assent and three minutes later Romanoff brought the jet to hover over the clearing. I grasped Steve's shoulder, "Hold tight Cap, this is going to feel a bit weird." He braced himself and indicated his readiness and with another little push, we were jumping up to touch down on the extended ramp. Thor and then Stark landed afterward, walking side by side into the jet awkwardly avoiding talking to each other.

I dropped back into my seat, and clamped down on Loki's arm, wiping the stupid smug look on his face. His lips curled in a sneer but he held back the, 'Get your hands off me you filthy mortal' that he wanted to fire off. I suppose he put enough stock in his plan to hold his tongue. Romanoff saw that we were ready so she closed the ramp and twisted the jet back around to its original route.

* * *

Hi again, I just wanted to put a question out there for you guys, I was wondering if you prefer the shorter updates every day or so or if you would like to see longer updates (about 5k words) every week or so, please let me know in the reviews.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: A One Way Road to a Mid Air Crisis

Author's Note: Hello fellow humans, welcome back. This chapter represents a new jumping off point for the story. The past six chapters have all been written and posted in a day each and I always feel stressed doing that, based on your reviews I've decided to move to a longer weekly chapter instead of a shorter daily one, this being the last of the shorter ones. Also at the time that I'm writing this, this story has broken 100 followers and we're up to a 1000 views, THAT'S INSANE, thank you so much for all of your support.

In plot news, this is the first major divergence for the story. I've been grappling with how I want to structure the MC, what I want his motivations to be, and what weaknesses I can attribute to him to make him a real person and not a one-dimensional facade. This is the result of several days of furious brainstorming with my brilliant friend and I hope you enjoy reading it. Don't forget to tell me things in the reviews section.

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking a foreign language(s)

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking English

'_Hello fellow humans'_ \- Inner thoughts/thinking English

* * *

Looking at the scepter hurt my head.

That was an understatement. Looking at the scepter, or more specifically the blue gem that I knew contained the mind stone, made me feel like someone was driving a pickaxe into my temple.

I was holed up in a corner of the lab that SHIELD has so kindly provided for Stark and Bruce. I scoff mentally, give me a break, if everything they did wasn't being recorded for posterity I would eat my shoes.

I had dragged an office chair in from a neighboring conference room and turned slowly from side to side absentmindedly as Stark and Bruce did their science-ing, never once taking my eyes off of the scepter.

The plan was to try and analyze its emission signature so that I would be able to track it at a later date but I was having about as much progress as an umbrella in a hurricane. Any attempt to delve into its inner workings were rebuffed, not by the scepter or anything, just by nature of the stone. Turns out that a self-contained singularity that was a physical representation of an entire aspect of existence did not really give a shit about the conventionally agreed upon laws of physics, which means that I couldn't do squat against it.

That's not to say there wasn't any progress though, in the time it took Steve to walk in, nod at me in greeting, chastise Stark for being Stark, get into an argument about how honest SHIELD was being with us and storm out in a huff I had finally gotten a handle on the outward effects of the scepter's gem. Finally being able to do the frankly borderline nonsensical calculations allowed me to follow the little streams of power the weapon was sending towards Bruce and Stark's heads.

It is important to note here that I suspected the Mind stone of being independent of the scepter, the stone itself didn't really have an agenda, but the blue gem in the scepter acted not only as a receptacle for the infinity stone but also a hilt with which to wield it.

I suspected that the reason the Mind Stone was even active at the moment was because someone, either Loki or Thanos, had left an imprint on it. That they had given it the prime directive of causing conflict among any surrounding humans. In fact, this was probably the malicious consciousness that had twisted the U.L.T.R.O.N. base code into the monster it became in the original timeline.

I came out of the fugue I had descended into to study the twisting streams of the scepter's influence to find most of the team gathered in the room. '_Oh, fuck! This is about to happen.'_ I stand abruptly, drawing all eyes to me.

"You guys need to take a deep breath-" I start to say as I thread past Steve, Stark, and Fury on the way to table the scepter was resting on. I must have come off as more of a jackass than I intended because all that achieved was redirecting Fury and Stark's ire at me.

"_Take a deep breath_? Listen here you little- Why are you even he- Who are you?"

"I told you, Mr. Stark-"

"Tony, my name is Tony." He bursts almost petulantly.

I nod graciously before continuing, "Tony then, I told you, I came here with Bruce. And to be honest you're all lucky I did."

"Lucky, what do you mean lucky?" Steve chimes in, jumping on the hate on Accelerator bandwagon, "You jumped straight out a plane with no plan. By all accounts, you're a civilian no one's even heard of… Weird superpowers or no you _shouldn't_ be here son."

"Perhaps Captain, but as I said, you're lucky I am." Romanoff looks like she wants more than anything to jump in and rip down what undoubtedly seems like an ego the size of the moon, but before she can I bring my hand up and snap my fingers. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Thor flinch lightly, '_ouch buddy, really sorry about that, I'll make it up to you. Promise.'_

The sound ends all the conversation and I spread my feet to stand like a showman. Heh, the pissed off looks are back, even Bruce's patience seems to be running out. I bring up my hand and turn it front and back as if to show that it is empty and then drop it right onto the scepter.

Fury and Romanoff tense and reach for their guns, but I hold up the other palm to them. Bringing the scepter around to in front of me I exaggerate my motions while reaching for the fist-sized blue gem and wrapping my long fingers around it. Several seconds later large cracks ring out as I crush the gem.

I brush fine sapphire dust off my white cuffs and look up to see confused faces all around. Well not all around, it seems to dawn on Fury what's just happened because he reached for his earpiece and orders a nameless SHIELD agent™to bring him a secure container for the scepter. The other people in the lab turn to him with the same question on their minds.

As the monitor tracking the tesseract beeps I slip an unassuming yellow rock into my pocket. '_Mission accomplish-'_

The explosion scatters us, being invulnerable to physical damage means all that happens I do after falling through the hole that opened up in the lab is bounce around helicarrier service hallways.

'_What the fuck just happened?'_

Chaos erupts across the massive vessel, emergency alarms blaring while agents stream past on their way to somewhere. Pissed off at the strident tones I tweak my field to reflect sounds from that frequency while still allowing other sounds through.

Agent Hill's voice rings out over the comms, "We've lost an engine, if we lose another we won't be able to keep this thing in the air anymore." While Fury sends Tony and Steve to fix the rotor I slump against the wall and try to figure out what was happening.

I was a big Marvel fan in my first life, I had watched all the movies, some multiple time, but still. It had been almost five years since I had last watched the Avengers, and dear god was I paying for it now, well no matter, there's nothing that anyone can do to me anyway, I'll just meddle some more and fix this too.

* * *

I run towards where I can see Bruce's gamma signature spiking if I'm remembering this right the Hulk was about to be unleashed by the explosion and would then rampage his way straight through the vessel. Something that I imagined wasn't really good for the health of the flying fortress. I leave the rotor to the other guys, this was more important. My breath comes in sharp huffs, I may not be out of shape but this scrawny body wasn't really meant for long distance sprints. I slap myself mentally, '_what an idiot, you have SUPERPOWERS you dumbass, USE THEM,'_ I switch to blasting off the ground with my vectors, ricocheting off of the steel corridors to zip around corners.

Just as I near the gamma signature it suddenly grows in intensity, the Hulk releases a primal roar that rattles the walls. '_Ah Fuck.'_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: A One Way Road to a Resolution

Author's Note: Hey friends, I hope you're having a good day. Welcome to the first of the longer chapters for this story. Many of you review that the last chapter was a good move on my part and an important indicator that this story was headed in the right direction, I hope this chapter continues that trend. Enjoy, and don't forget to read and review

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking a foreign language(s)

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking English

'_Hello fellow humans'_ \- Inner thoughts/thinking English

* * *

The Hulk is a terrifying opponent. My power is a perfect counter to his inhuman strength but it's one thing to know that intellectually and another thing entirely to have more than eight feet of green muscles tearing a path towards you through solid steel walls. I park my self at the end of a long corridor and watch it morbid fascination as the sheet metal just shatters around him as he runs through. In contrast to his massive frame is Romanoff's slight one, doing her level best to stay ahead of the raging gamma mishap. I twist to let her limp past me without taking my eyes off the large, green, and _very dangerous_ threat.

"You said you can stop it right," she says while pursing her lips and leaning heavily on the hallway railing to take the weight off of her busted ankle. "You've been a huge ass all day so it's time to put your money where your mouth is kid… Stop it."

'_Alright that's fair, I have kinda been a douche all day'_

"Pshhhh, yeah I can stop him, no worries." I nod behind us, away from the Hulk charging towards us.

"You should probably get out of here though, this might get messy and frankly you're a bit squishy." Romanoff scoffs but moves to leave anyway, in true superspy fashion she gets in the last word.

"Try not to make too much of a mess, we're trying to keep this boat in the air."

I refocus on the Hulk and, well shit, when'd he get so close. About five feet from me he raises his fist to slam down on my head but I burst forward before he can bring it down. Practically flying across the corridor I lower myself to the ground and dodge around his fist. The fist, which is just a green blur at this point, hits the ground and the floor _ripples_, '_What the absolute fuck, that shouldn't even be possible'_ I put the nonsense physics out of my mind and stretch out to poke a single finger into the Hulk's viridian skin.

It's child's play to complete the calculations to send him rocketing backward in milliseconds. I limit the force enough that his rebounded trajectory only widens the tear through the floor he made on his approach instead of flying straight out of the side of the Helicarrier. Actually, that might be a good idea, deal with him quickly now and get down to the brig where Loki is undoubtedly trying to weasel his way out of that round glass cage.

When I make to follow after the Hulk, who is now once more roaring like an angry T-rex, Thor appears with his lightning hammer in hand.

"Accelerator! Where is Banner? One of the soldiers said he was tearing through the ship." Ah, what perfect timing Thor, still... choices, choices. Do I deal with the Hulk right now and tell Thor to check on his errant adopted brother or do I let Thor handle this fight and go after the magical horned menace myself. Either way, I can trust that Bruce will find his way back to New York in time to help with the invasion, so I suppose all it comes down to is preference.

"Thor, I'm glad you're here. Bruce is that way," I point down the new and improved trail of destruction, "The Hulk doesn't really have a sense of reason when he's this mad so don't bother trying to reason with him. I'll leave this to you, I'm going to head down and make sure that Loki doesn't use this chaos to escape." Thor nods grimly before swinging his hammer to fly down the ruined corridor. After I watch him drop into a hole in the floor I race towards the brig, trying to remember the route from the quick tour agent Hill had given Bruce and me.

The comms are crowded with Tony and Steve trying to get the rotors working again despite the best efforts of _Loki's Flunkies_™when another explosion rocks the ship. That… was not in the direction the Hulk and Thor went. Fucking hell, I was in no way mentally prepared for this level of violence. None of my experiences, in either of my lives, even came close to the absolute shit show this whole thing was turning into. The average American citizen didn't really have to deal with high-level government black ops paramilitary groups. '_Suck it up Accelerator, this is nothing, you're gonna fight _actual _aliens before today is over. You can do it. You can do anything.'_

Several floors down later another explosion rings out and the ship starts tilting dangerously. I hear some agent, Satwell, Sitgood or something, who gives a fuck, tell Fury that another engine has lost power.

"It's Barton." Fury yells out into his earpiece, "He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?"

"This is Agent Romanoff. I copy."

"This is Accelerator, Romanoff I'm already on the way to the detention center, I had a feeling Loki would use this opportunity to escape. I'm going to check he's locked up if you wanna cut off this Barton guy."

"Copy."

* * *

I run into the detention center, my eyes darting wildly around the circular room to find Loki stepping out of the reinforced glass cylinder that served as a cell. Damnit. Barton must have remotely hacked the controls and released him.

I plant my feet and square my shoulders to face the god of mischief while he manifests his shimmering golden armor.

"You know…" he says smoothly, walking closer, "You weren't a part of the plan." His voice is filled with power, underlying all his words with icy spikes, I suppress a shiver at the realization that this is an Aesir, a warrior thousands of years old.

"The Soldier, the Monster, the Mechanic, the spies, they all had their place. But you… what hole did you crawl out of you pale creature, who do you _think_ you are to interfere in the _plans of a GOD, you worm_"

"Why thank you," my mouth slides into a smirk easily, there's no need to worry, I can beat this guy with one ar- no, I can beat him with both arms tied behind my back.

"I can think of no higher compliment, worms are an essential part of the ecosystem" Loki grits his teeth lunges toward me but I sidestep and slap his arm as he flies by, sending him careening into the cage's outside wall. The crash makes a dull, resounding thud and I wince in sympathy, '_Ouch that sounds like it hurts'_. In a flash, he's on his feet, now with wicked looking daggers in both fists.

"What are you mortal? Your worthless people have not even discovered seidr, how are you doing that?" He snarls, and just for the 'lols', I raise my hand in a thumbs up position.

"No magic, all you see before you can be achieved with the power of math, would you like to hear more about our Lord and Savior, the Vector?" He screams in rage and launches himself once more at me. This time I reach a hand forward, slip it past his guard and on to the inside of his elbow and reverse the motion of his arm with a quick multiplication.

The sudden change in motion sends him flipping across the room to land at the foot of the staircase under the door. They must be more durable than I thought, I was sure pushing at his elbow so hard would break his arm. Loki once more jumps to his feet and rears his arms back to throw his daggers at me but he is interrupted by what is probably the least threatening voice on this, or any world.

"Drop the knives please." says agent Phil Coulson, standing in the doorway holding a massive Phase 2 prototype gun.

Loki wisely drops the knives and I relax my tense shoulders. As they clatter to the floor Coulson starts down the stairs and continues talking.

"You like this?" he questions in his plain voice while coming closer and closer to the now stock still god. "We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer." Coulson reaches his free hand to his inside coat pocket and produces another pair of the heavy-duty handcuffs they had been using on Loki. "Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?" Loki's silence must have been an answer to the negative because the agent starts to reach out to cuff the Asgardian.

Wait, something about this whole thing is incredibly familiar, hold on isn't this when- _fuck_! I dive full force into the streams of numbers that define the world and switch my internal filter to identify only thermal energy vectors. A frenzied scan of the room has my eyes landing on a hidden figure behind Coulson, the real Loki, he must have switched himself with an illusion at the moment the agent's appearance distracted me. All of a sudden several things happen at once.

I yell out the agent's name and blast off the ground in Loki's direction. The care I usually take to limit damage to my environment is abandoned in favor of speed so the floor craters. Coulson releases a gasp at the realization of what is about to happen. Loki rears back a knife to ram into the agent but my yell must have thrown him enough that instead of a clean stab through the spine and into the heart he misses and slams the knife home in Coulson's right kidney causing the latter to stagger and fall off the last few stairs.

I grab Coulson before he can hit the floor and Loki takes the opportunity to make his escape through the hole under the glass cage. He lands on a waiting jet piloted by another one of _Loki's Flunkies_™. As Coulson starts to bleed out all rational thought leaves my mind.

"FuckFuckFuckFuckFuck, Hey, Hey, Stay with me. COULSON, stay with me" I start rambling hysterically and press blindly at the stab wound in his side, trying vainly to stem the flow of blood. In a perfect world, I would have realized that I have SUPERPOWERS and I would have used them to fucking stop him leaking blood like a fucking faucet, but this wasn't a perfect world, and I wasn't perfect. I wasn't FUCKING PERFECT.

This was all my fault, I got cocky, careless and now another person is paying the price. I've been begging for this, this entire time. Walking around like I'm invincible, like this is all just a game. But it's not, it's not. This power that I have is _not_ just a cool party trick that I can screw around with, it's a terrible burden, a responsibility to be better, to make a difference.

Thor and trauma EMTs arrive several harrowing minutes later and pull Coulson from my arms to take him to emergency surgery. Thor drops a hand on my shoulder and leads me back up the helicarrier to the deserted and half destroyed bridge, where he, Steve, Tony and I end up sitting quietly for god knows how long, each of us lost in thought as we wait anxiously for news on Coulson's condition.

* * *

I sat, still as a statue and stared off into thin air, my hands folded and supporting my head as the others arrayed themselves quietly around the table. In full tragedy triteness I felt Coulson's blood on my hand even though they washed off at a sink over an hour ago.

Unlike most other insert fanfictions I had come across over the final few years of my past life I never really had the problem of not registering that the faces around me were real people. I never had to struggle under the terrible realization that these were living, breathing, thinking and feeling _people_. I managed to avoid that whole mess by spending my first few months in this universe gallivanting around eastern India with Bruce.

The entire experience not only served as the obligatory training trip but also as a method for me to be grounded in this world. It's hard to see other humans as a two-dimensional background NPC's after they come to you in tears with their child in the arms, begging you to "please help them".

In those months I hit low points as well. Several times I grew despondent over the fact that family was lost to me, and in those times Bruce attempted to comfort me just as I had for him. By the time Romanoff showed up with the mission to find the Tesseract Bruce was practically an older brother to me.

So as I sat there at that table I thought about how my overconfidence got Coulson hurt. And yes in the original timeline he survived due because of Project T.A.H.I.T.I. but that was no reason to believe he'd do so this time around. I hadn't seen the show in years but from what I remember the whole resurrecting the dead thing was incredibly touch and go, and came with a whole host of side effect, like insanity.

No, this was a stark reminder, I may be incredibly powerful, but that just means I have to be incredibly vigilant, _incredibly vigilan_t, all of this power in my hands means less than nothing if I can't stop people from getting hurt.

'_Never again, Never Fucking Again.'_ The statement rings out in my head and I feel the self-assigned burden settle about my shoulders like a heavy cloak.

Fury walks in and throws several cards onto the table.

"Doctors say it's still touch and go, these next few hours will be crucial. These were in Coulson's jacket." he says to the captain and Steve leans forward to worry the edge of one, "Guess he never did get you to sign them." The one-eyed spy master then launches into his spiel to try and give one last push to the team.

"Phil Coulson might die still believing in that idea, in heroes…"

Tony stands suddenly, his face closed off, and walks quickly out of the room. Steve follows soon afterward. I sink back into my thoughts, I need a plan. I know that both Loki and the Tesseract are in New York. I'll need to use the Mind stone to close the portal, I unconsciously reach down to my pocket and brush my fingers around the small lump. '_Apart from that how can I best prevent more suffering… It would be best if the World Security Council never launched the nuke, that would prevent Tony from getting PTSD, hmmm what else can I do- OH, OH I could do that… would that even work?'_

Steve comes bursting into the room, "Stark figured out where Loki is. Accelerator…" He looked me dead in the eye, the unspoken question apparent, and I nodded once in return and then turn to Fury.

"Does this ship have guns on it." Fury nodded yes and in response, I grinned and turned around and laid a single palm flat on the table. I closed my eyes and delved headfirst into the numbers. This… wouldn't work… I just didn't have the mental strength for it, I might be able to do it someday but for now, it's beyond me… unless. I smile for the first time since Coulson was stabbed, it wasn't a nice one, these Chitauri fuckers won't know what hit them.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: A One Way Road to Preparation

Author's Note: Hello friends, so it has been about a week since I've even written anything, turns out that even though the school's on its last legs it still has more to throw at me. But rejoice! I have defeated the slew of end-of-year projects and have returned to this exercise in escapism called fan fiction. Enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to read and review.

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking a foreign language(s)

"Hello fellow humans" - Speaking English

'_Hello fellow humans'_ \- Inner thoughts/thinking English

* * *

I had always been a lazy person…

To be perfectly fair it was an unavoidable side effect of growing up in the United States in the early 2000s. Apathy was a pervasive contagion that children in that society were almost preferred to contract. It was only shortly before I had been stolen from my original universe that young men and women from around the world were actually stepping up to the plate and doing things in the world. Like that twenty-something European millionaire that was pretty much single-handedly cleaning up the oceans' plastics with a viable idea, he developed in high school.

But in terms of moral fiber, motivation and any number of things really there was a huge gap between me and that guy. Something that I could no longer stand for. As much as it went against every ingrained instinct in me it was time to be…. Ugh… proactive.

I shuddered at the disgusting idea but shoulder through it. There are actual lives at stake here. Coulson may not be dead in this timeline, but he was lying in a med bay unconscious somewhere on this ship with a knife wound through his kidney. He shouldn't have gotten hurt at all. Really dropped the ball on that one didn't I. Well no more world, Never Fear, For I am Here!

I should really talk actual human beings instead of monologuing like a psycho, I think I may actually be losing brain cells by doing this. First order of business after this Chitauri business is to go out for a good burger with Bruce, maybe we even take the rest of the new gang, recreate that Shawarma scene, except instead of Shawarma it's a burger, because I don't know what Shawarma even is. I'm getting ahead of myself. The first order of business is this incoming Chitauri problem.

In the time taken up by slightly psychotic monologuing I had reached the runway deck of the Helicarrier. I turned to find Fury slightly behind me and the others approaching.

"So what exactly is the plan here Accelerator?" Steve asks while the others array themselves around me. This time around both the Hulk and Thor had managed to stay onboard the flying boat, even though Bruce had reverted back somewhen in the intervening time this was a big step up, I wanted all the help possible as close by as possible. All the better to keep the fighting concentrated and prevent collateral damages.

"Fury said there's guns on this ship, which means it'll be a help in the fight. But I also overheard an agent say even at full functionality the Helicarrier couldn't get to New York in time, let alone with an engine down."

"The plan was to take a quinjet," says Steve as he absentmindedly tightens the straps holding his shield to his forearm.

"Would probably work, but again..., this boat is an asset, so I'm going to push it to New York"

I'm getting pretty good at rendering people speechless. Must be an ingrained talent. I can't decide whose reaction is funnier, Steve stares straight on as if ignoring the statement that doesn't fit his world view will make it go away, Fury tries to glare answers out of me, Tony looks like he's trying to figure out how that would actually work, his intelligence definitely wasn't to be underestimated then, if he already had an inkling of my power after seeing me use it only a few times.

Banner draws focus onto himself, his previous knowledge of me allowing him to process the statement for what it means faster "Can you actually do that? We never tested with anything bigger than a car." Asking the questions seems to bring him out of shell a little bit, letting him forget if only for a moment the turbulent storm of emotions that a Hulk transformation must leave in its wake.

"Yes, I can Bruce, remember, there are no limits." Then I start laying out my plan.

I haven't had a 'huh... this is my life now isn't it?' moment in a while so it only makes sense the overdue feeling runs up my spine like a lightning bolt. Here I am, giving a superhero plan talk because my superpowers are badass as fuck so I have a plan. My life is pretty fucking great isn't it.

* * *

The plan was ironed out over an agonizing half hour when the more experienced combatants like Steve and Romanoff did not hesitate to rip into my half-baked idea and try to make something sensible out of it. Meanwhile, next to them Fury grilled Thor on any information the Aesir had on the Chitauri's martial capabilities while Hill stood and occasionally delivered status reports over his shoulder. We split off to our assigned positions.

For a lot of the team, their roles hadn't changed much, the four non-fliers cut across the busy runway during a lull to a quinjet whose engines were warming up, they were to meet the rest of us at ground zero in downtown Manhattan. Clint seemed to have bounced back impressively from his stint as a Loki Flunky because Fury hadn't hesitated to task their team assisting the recently begun civilian evacuation efforts and to take on any smaller troops that appeared. I suppose that was the nature of this field of work though, no rest for the wicked one could say.

I decided to leave the distraction part of the plan to Tony, he excelled at being an annoying shit, and to be honest, I was kinda jealous of it, definitely one of his better abilities. But perhaps, more importantly, it would give him a chance to get a new suit he said, an opportunity most were inclined to jump on given the fact that he'd been insistently whining about while staring plaintively at the ruined paint job and dented chassis around the glowing reactor in his chest.

Thor and Hulk would be crowd control, Bruce having been carried off by the demigod to transform into his angrier counterpart at the scene of the invasion. The two heavy hitters would take on larger troop emplacements and ensure none of the alien shits managed to dig themselves a foothold on this side of the portal for a further excursion.

My part was exceedingly simple, and yet a little complicated. Vague memories of the first Avengers movie told me that Romanoff had had to use the scepter to close the portal since nothing else could get through the Tesseract's force field. Since I had the Mind Stone now I volunteered to take over Thor's role in limiting entrants through the portal, conveniently putting me in a position to 'find' a way to close the hole in reality that the Space Stone would rip in the sky.

But before any of that, I had my original self assigned task to complete. I turned to Fury once the rest of the team had taken off in their own various ways and nodded once, signaling to him that I was about to begin. As he jogged away, back to the bridge no doubt to coordinate efforts I heard him yelling into his earpiece for agents to take their battle stations.

Pushing him and other extraneous thoughts from my mind I stared down at the tarmac. There were several ways I could do this really, I-

'_Alright enough stalling, just do this.'_

I crouched and laid a palm flat on the warm ground, letting the mid-morning heat soak into my hand via the asphalt. Taking a last breath to steady myself I dived head first into the numbers.

I'd never pushed my powers to work on something this big but that wasn't really an issue. Unlike other superpowers from fiction which were often scaled for some semblance of balance the character whose abilities I'd inherited worked a little differently. What limited me was the number of calculations required for whatever it was I was trying to pull off, so it didn't matter whether I was trying to move a golf ball or a boulder, their masses were just different numbers to compute the actual math didn't change very much.

So although it took a second to adjust to the flood of information within my grasp it was almost criminally easy to push aside the current wind bearing and surrounding high altitude thermals and seize the overall vectors governing the Helicarrier and everything on it.

A little tweak is all it takes, the massive vessel's acceleration shifting from zero meters per second squared to a decent five meters per second squared at my meddling. Within minutes the airborne destroyer was moving about as fast as most commercial jets, several times the top speed it might but on a good day without my hero. Several minutes after that I brought the acceleration back down to zero, leveling off our airspeed and ensuring that we would reach New York only several minutes after the others.

Criminally easy…

While the ship zooms along, rattling sightly at being stressed so far from its usual operating tolerances, I stand up and dust my hands off. I was able to find time before this to get my hands on a few new toys from the SHIELD armory. One of the few weaknesses my power possessed was the inability to manipulate matter that wasn't there, hence the soda can-sized oxygen canister strapped to the small of my back. Suffocation was one of the sure fire ways to take me down so there was no sense in leaving the loophole open.

I also snagged a multi-user contact taser, I could generate lighting myself but it was a bit off an iffy process since even slight atmospheric disturbances were enough to domino the math into requiring exponentially more processing power. Much simpler to use premade electricity and just push on it to take the size and shape I want.

My jumpsuit remained the same, standard SHIELD-wear winter edition. Still flawlessly clean even though I'd been in several fights, reflection field for the win.

Done checking myself over I forced myself to sit down on the edge of the ship. Trying to put my sudden nerves out of mind. Wouldn't be long now.

* * *

PS, Accelerator moving the Helicarrier so easily is well within the scope of his abilities. In the source material in stealing his power from he throws an entire skyscraper with a single hand.


End file.
